


Stage of Daybreak

by BabyChocoboAlchemist



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Fluff, Ignis being Ignis, M/M, Prompto Protection Squad 2017
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-08
Updated: 2017-02-08
Packaged: 2018-09-22 20:58:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,742
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9625100
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BabyChocoboAlchemist/pseuds/BabyChocoboAlchemist
Summary: Prompto, although terrified beyond words, is ready to experience something he never thought he'd experience. Ignis has opened up a brand new world for him, one he's ready to dive much deeper into.





	

**Author's Note:**

> The Final Fantasy XV Facebook told me it was Iggy's birthday, so I thought it would be nice to write a little birthday fic for him, in which Prompto gives him a special gift. :) Enjoy, and thank you very much for being here!

‘I’ve never felt this way before.

I love all of the guys. I love them more than words will ever be able to say. But everything’s changing.

Noct and Gladio are my big brothers. The greatest brothers a guy could have. But Ignis?

I don’t see him as a brother anymore. I used to, and I really tried to make it stick, but it doesn’t work anymore. 

Being around him lately has been scary and exciting, all at once. It’s like flying for the first time. I’m scared but ready to spread my wings. Ready to taste the sky. Sometimes it makes me so dizzy I can’t stand, and sometimes I feel like flying to the moon.

I didn’t think we’d be friends at first. I mean, he’s a billion times smarter than me, and I’m the world’s biggest idiot, so how could we ever become friends? What could I possibly have to talk to him about? I’d do nothing but waste his time, right? But as time passed, things changed. I’ve been with the guys longer than I can remember, and it feels great. It’s amazing. But being around Ignis…

It’s not the way it used to be.

This isn’t what friendship feels like. I don’t know much of anything, but that I do know. This is…what I feel for Ignis…is something greater than friendship. I can’t stop thinking about him, I worry about him whenever he goes away-

So is this it, then? Am I in love? With Noct’s Royal Advisor?

I’ve never been in love before, but…

I want to know what this is. I want to go deeper.’

\-------------------------

As jewels painted daybreak’s stage, he rose. Dreams were left behind, glistening like the moon’s dust, as he looked upon the faces of his sleeping brothers. Noctis and Gladiolus, minutes away from wreaking their usual havoc, were tucked away in visions of peace. Far away from the anarchy their world was lost in. Words couldn’t measure how much a certain photographer loved spending time with them, but a part of Prompto wished they could remain far away from reality’s chaos. 

He’d cut his heart out with a butter knife to protect Noctis from reality.

Stabbed by pangs that put Titan’s claws to shame, Prompto left them in their whirlwind of dreams. He captured the fleeting bits of stardust from his dreams, remembering how warm, how wonderful they felt, how they never would have happened if it hadn’t been for a certain chef. For what must’ve been forever and a day, nightmares rid him of the ability to dream. They took flight in the wake of a cataclysmic clash, one that almost caused the loves of his life to disappear. So nightmares rid him of the ability to believe. Of the ability to take flight in something far beyond insecurities, brokenness, frustration. Ignis, having mastered everything there was to master, created satchets and oils from plants, herbs and flowers. Turned on magic only he would ever be able to summon, just to help a certain photographer sleep.

He kept his favorite satchets close, the ones that smelled of lavender and jasmine. They reminded him of safety and serenity, smiles made of velvet. They reminded him of what it meant to be free, of what it meant to feel alive, terrified, invincible. They reminded him of-

Ignis. The very man he found standing under the same blanket of stars, preparing breakfast at their campsite.

Under a field of diamonds ushering in daybreak, Prompto stood with a gift in his hands. Something he knew wouldn’t be of any use, just as he wasn’t, but maybe, just maybe, it would make Ignis smile. He usually took pictures before the world awakened, but that morning, something else was on his mind-getting to the jack-of-all-trades before Noct and Gladio. Their birthday gifts would render his useless, but being the first in line to give Ignis his present would soften the blow of failure. So it was forward he stepped, holding onto the frail threads of hope, heart racing underneath a sea of gemstones. Heart beating faster with every step he took. 

It was a few inches away from Ignis he stopped, clutching the gift, watching the artist at work. Vanilla, cinnamon and nutmeg rose in a gentle, jubilant clash, joining the stardust that painted the heavens. The fragrances Ignis painted the world in let Prompto know they’d be having pancakes for breakfast. Masterpieces a certain gunslinger requested. Ignis had been making his favorite dishes lately, whipping up a phenomenal masterwork in the wake of a particularly brutal nightmare. He-

Smelled of lavender, jasmine, warmth, safety. Kindness. Patience.

Interrupting the maestro wasn’t something Prompto enjoyed doing, but somehow it won out over standing there with his birthday gift. After all, prolonging the inevitable was pointless. If he was going to give Noct’s advisor a worthless gift, why not get it out of the way? So on he stepped, clutching the gift to heart, unable to keep his eyes off the artist at work. Hating how he was about to disturb the delicate balance between the world’s slumber and Ignis’ magic, but unwilling to remain silent, he moved forward. 

Then, mouth dry as paper, Ramuh’s fists pounding at his chest, he spoke.

“Hey there. What’cha up to?”

The bladesman’s eyes sent shafts of fire, light and wonder through him. “Getting a head start on breakfast,” he replied, just as soft as the falling starlight. “Never hurts to get ahead on my tasks, especially when I’ve got two dolts to deal with. They’ll be up in just a few hours, and I always feel better whenever I have the upper hand.”

“But it’s your birthday,” Prompto frowned, speaking as though Ignis had just sworn to retire from the culinary field. “Are you okay, whipping up breakfast? You should be sleeping in or something.”

Hard at work with the magic only he could summon, Ignis gave Prompto a mischievous look that sent shivers through the photographer’s spine. “I’m just fine, thank you very much,” he assured his friend, eyes twinkling in the morning’s calm, filling the gunner with panic, adrenaline, warmth, so much warmth.

“Never made a big deal out of my birthday. Every day is a celebration in my book, even more so when I’m able to enjoy your company.”

There it was again, Ignis’ uncanny ability to stun him, move him, without batting an eye. And it was at that point concern rushed   
into the advisor’s eyes. “What, were you unable to sleep?” Ignis asked him gently, worriedly, always so kind towards him. Prodding at the nightmares that once plagued him, still plagued him, but were hidden underneath the morning’s kind silence.

Suddenly finding it difficult to breathe, Prompto gulped before finding his voice. “N-n-no, I’m a lot better now,” he said, desperately hoping there wasn’t a trace of doubt. “Really! I…I’ve actually b-b-been having a lot of dreams lately…thanks to you.”

He bowed his head, heart battering away, body heavier than all of Eos. “Thanks for helping me, Ignis,” he murmured, always dismissing the bladesman’s nickname whenever his heart demanded to be heard. 

“Without you, I probably would’ve gone insane weeks ago. It’s not easy for me to tell Noct some things, but…it’s easy to talk to you. So easy it’s fun. Which is kinda weird, because I thought we wouldn’t ever have anything to talk about. I mean, you’re like a billion times smarter than I am, and…well…I’m nothing special, so…yeah. Thank you. Thank you very much, Ignis.”

The Royal Advisor remained silent as the world continued to sleep, driving stakes into his friend’s soul with thoughts that couldn’t be read. Ignis fortunately brought an end to silence that threatened to swallow Prompto, soft, dark, menacing and tender all at once. “Mind telling me why you’re here?” he asked, probing the photographer’s soul, searching for the means to rid Prompto’s heart of cracks.

The gunslinger, still clutching the gift he meant to give, lifted his head. 

“It’s your birthday, so…um…I got you a present. It’s nothing special, but…I really hope you like it.”

Into the advisor’s hands the gift went. For a moment, just a moment, time, fate and space vanished. Their hands met, just for a moment, and everything was rewritten. Reborn. Familiar and strikingly new, all at once. Loud and quiet, inviting yet horrifying. 

Stardust and sun flame rushed into the photographer, all in that moment, prodding him to believe in something much greater   
than the fears that haunted him. “It’s a journal,” he explained, his voice frail yet radiant with excitement and panic.

“Um, you mentioned something about having a ton of stuff in your head all the time, and…I thought it would be nice for you to have a place for it. You know, so you can keep stuff organized. Not like you need to be more organized, since you’ve mastered the art of being organized, but y’know, saw it and thought of you. Really stupid, I know, but…happy birthday.”

His spirit roared in the silence that ensured, with the need to be heard, seen, held. Comforted. Explored. With a need to explore the other. Ignis’ unreadable emotions and hidden thoughts worsened the journey through maddening, familiar, wildly new sensations, leading him to believe he’d burst at the seams in mere seconds. Luckily, the Royal Advisor brought him off the edge of insanity. And the moment he spoke, Prompto noticed something: reverence. Warm, infinite awe. “It’s very much like you,” Ignis told him, stroking the journal’s front cover.

“Unique and refreshing. Thank you. I vow to cherish it just as much as I cherish my bond with you. But I now know what gift I’d really enjoy on this fine day.”

Heart beating louder than Ramuh’s thunder, Prompto gasped: “What’s that?”

Holding the journal close to heart, Ignis gave him one of his rare smiles. “Your company. Why, we’re on our way to the Moogle Chocobo Carnival, aren’t we? Perfect opportunity for us to enjoy ourselves. I wouldn’t mind spending a day making you smile, and once it’s all over, I’ll put it all in my new book. Would make a wonderful first set of memories, don’t you agree?”

Heart soaring, feeling a thousand times too small underneath a field of stars, but feeling strong enough to fly, Prompto nodded, all the while realizing something.

‘Yeah, this is it.’


End file.
